Ellsworth makes happy re­turn

The Cana­dian-born artist, who lives in Mel­bourne, said he could not turn down the op­por­tu­nity to re­turn to a place that has be­come a home away from home.

‘‘I love the fun of be­ing in a com­mu­nity that joins in and has a bit of fun paint­ing and en­joy­ing art in the street,’’ he said.

‘‘The town is just so friendly, and so is the group that runs it.

‘‘I love the peo­ple of Rochester and I am staying at the Sham­rock again, which I love very much. It’s a real as­set to the town.

‘‘I’m staying in the same room I was in last year, which is great be­cause I get to look out the win­dow and see the cat­tle and sheep trucks go through and see the sheep dogs run­ning around round­ing them up — it’s typ­i­cal Aus­tralia in a nut­shell.’’

Ellsworth is, for the most part, a self-taught artist. He has an ex­ten­sive back­ground in paint­ing mu­rals, in­clud­ing in Canada, Mex­ico and the western coast of the United States.

‘‘I en­joy the free­dom of paint­ing in a big space and that is open to the pub­lic,’’ he said. ‘‘They can watch you do it. Ev­ery day (at pre­vi­ous events) I had peo­ple come by, and they see your progress.’’

Cana­dian artist Ellsworth Over­ton is back in town for the mu­ral fes­ti­val.